Our run to the finals

[franklin2323]

If we fix the defence our attack is starting to look good with Cleary starting to come good.

Yeo had a simple miss for the Whitehead try. The left side of Kikau/Blake are in horrible form in defense.

 

[Kilkenny]

We have equaled the same number of wins as we achieved last season, but with 4 rounds to go.

You’d think we’d be odds on to finish with at least 15 wins this season, which is two more than last year. We might even manage 16.

To have done that with an incredible injury toll is a massive achievement.

The next two weeks are massive games for us. Two winnable games, get to 32 points on the back of four straight wins to finish up with two tough road trips against the Warriors and Storm.

We have been far from convincing against the Sea Eagles and Raiders but wins are wins and get another couple of the board with no more injuries then who knows what can happen.

You would have to think we need at least 3 of our last 4 to have any chance of a top four finish.

I know I have posed this question before but if we finish 5th and the Broncos or Warriors finish in 8th is the elimination final in Sydney? No one seems to be able to give a definitive answer?

 

[umina panther]

Yeo had a simple miss for the Whitehead try. The left side of Kikau/Blake are in horrible form in defense.

They can come good though. The unfixable weakness that every team can see is the real issue

 

[umina panther]

The next two weeks are massive games for us. Two winnable games, get to 32 points on the back of four straight wins to finish up with two tough road trips against the Warriors and Storm.

We have been far from convincing against the Sea Eagles and Raiders but wins are wins and get another couple of the board with no more injuries then who knows what can happen.

You would have to think we need at least 3 of our last 4 to have any chance of a top four finish.

I know I have posed this question before but if we finish 5th and the Broncos or Warriors finish in 8th is the elimination final in Sydney? No one seems to be able to give a definitive answer?

Would be our home game

 

[franklin2323]

They can come good though. The unfixable weakness that every team can see is the real issue

Fix them it helps fix the others. We get numbers in the tackle still let offloads go. That might just be communication. Neither one of them is a talker. We have 2 early finals games in the last 2 weeks to see where we sit

 

[OldPanther]

The next two weeks are massive games for us. Two winnable games, get to 32 points on the back of four straight wins to finish up with two tough road trips against the Warriors and Storm.

We have been far from convincing against the Sea Eagles and Raiders but wins are wins and get another couple of the board with no more injuries then who knows what can happen.

You would have to think we need at least 3 of our last 4 to have any chance of a top four finish.

I know I have posed this question before but if we finish 5th and the Broncos or Warriors finish in 8th is the elimination final in Sydney? No one seems to be able to give a definitive answer?

I definitely answered this. We get a home final at ANZ or Allianz.

 

[Abacus]

We can all see Maloney is a poor defender. The issues with Kikau and Blake indicate that the issue is more than just Maloney.

For me it looks like we're losing the ruck and I'm going to single out Katoa. He insists on tackling high and he apparently lacks the upper body strength and leverage to win the tussle. IMO he should be looking to tackle low everytime. As a result, our bigs are ending on the ground while wrapping legs - they take longer to get up and onside leading to a disorganised line. Once there's a quick PTB, as Katoa has lost the wrestle, opposition are attacking our left.

Hopefully Wal can get in his ear to sort this out.

 

[franklin2323]

It is where we were always going to miss Wallace. Imo it is no co-indence our defence has fallen away once he retired.

Maloney is just an easy blame. Even if he makes all of his tackles we still miss 48. So it is more then just him

 

[OldPanther]

We can all see Maloney is a poor defender. The issues with Kikau and Blake indicate that the issue is more than just Maloney.

For me it looks like we're losing the ruck and I'm going to single out Katoa. He insists on tackling high and he apparently lacks the upper body strengand leverage to win the tussle. IMO he should be looking to tackle low everytime. As a result, our bigs are ending on the ground while wrapping legs - they take longer to get up and onside leading to a disorganised line. Once there's a quick PTB, as Katoa has lost the wrestle, opposition are attacking our left.

Hopefully Wal can get in his ear to sort this out.

Get Egan in. Much better defender.

 

[Abacus]

Get Egan in. Much better defender.

As long as he knows to tackle low. Let the big boys look after the wrestle.

 

[tripster]

Our win yesterday has gone a long way to ensuring that we at least finish 5th.

We have a +34 advance on F/A over the Sharks. That means Sharks need to win an extra game over us, in order to leap-frog us on the ladder (assuming our losses and their wins didn't result in our F/A falling below theirs).

The same holds true for Brisbane and the Warriors.

Sharks play Melbourne, Cowboys, Knights and Bulldogs on the run home. You could see them winning all of those games, except for Melbourne. If they win 3/4, we would have to win 2/4 for them to overtake us.

Brisbane play the Cowboys, Rabbitohs, Roosters and Manly.

Warriors play Knights, Bulldogs, us, and the Raiders.

The Warriors game is going to be a key game for us to ensure we don't get overtaken by the Warriors.

 

[umina panther]

So who do we want in the finals? For me i'd like to play St Merge/NZ and to avoid Sharks/Melb. If we get back to somewhere near we were earlier in the year I also don't fear Souths at all.
Would also suck to finish 4th if Storm finish 1st. Getting toweled up by them 2 weeks in a row would crush us

 

[tripster]

So who do we want in the finals? For me i'd like to play St Merge/NZ and to avoid Sharks/Melb. If we get back to somewhere near we were earlier in the year I also don't fear Souths at all.
Would also suck to finish 4th if Storm finish 1st. Getting toweled up by them 2 weeks in a row would crush us

Based on current form playing Saints would be fine. Warriors would be unpredictable, but I’s definitely prefer us to play them rather than Sharks or Melb.

If Storm finish first, and by some miracle we finish 4th, it risks being a disaster for us. We will finish the season playing Warriors in NZ, then come back and travel to Melbourne to play the Storm, then travel back to Melbourne to play the Storm again. It would be a very tough before you even take the opposition into account.

 

[betcats]

So who do we want in the finals? For me i'd like to play St Merge/NZ and to avoid Sharks/Melb. If we get back to somewhere near we were earlier in the year I also don't fear Souths at all.
Would also suck to finish 4th if Storm finish 1st. Getting toweled up by them 2 weeks in a row would crush us

Give us the sharks, f**k it.

 

[franklin2323]

So who do we want in the finals? For me i'd like to play St Merge/NZ and to avoid Sharks/Melb. If we get back to somewhere near we were earlier in the year I also don't fear Souths at all.
Would also suck to finish 4th if Storm finish 1st. Getting toweled up by them 2 weeks in a row would crush us

I'd rather play Storm week 1 in the finals than in a Prelim Final. We can beat anyone in the finals that said

 

[mxlegend99]

It is where we were always going to miss Wallace. Imo it is no co-indence our defence has fallen away once he retired.

Maloney is just an easy blame. Even if he makes all of his tackles we still miss 48. So it is more then just him

That's not true. His missed tackles led to other players missing tackles aswell. It also reduces the confidence others have in his defence.

 

[TheFrog]

Broncos or Warriors finish in 8th

Broncos are likely to go to 6th this week, which will get them a home final if they can maintain it. There is a conflict of interest at work here in that a Suncorp final would net the NRL heaps more than Broncos playing at ANZ. Not saying the Broncos would get leg-ups to bring this about or anything. Much.

Sharks might have cooked their goose yesterday, especially facing the Storm in bleak city next.

 

[martielang]

I'd rather play Storm week 1 in the finals than in a Prelim Final. We can beat anyone in the finals that said

This is a good point. Ideally i'd like to play Storm Week 1 of finals & then not face them until the GF.

In saying that, not sure Souths are a better alternative currently. I think we might match up better against the Storm then the Rabbitohs despite recent history.

 

[martielang]

For me it looks like we're losing the ruck and I'm going to single out Katoa. He insists on tackling high and he apparently lacks the upper body strength and leverage to win the tussle. IMO he should be looking to tackle low everytime. As a result, our bigs are ending on the ground while wrapping legs - they take longer to get up and onside leading to a disorganised line. Once there's a quick PTB, as Katoa has lost the wrestle, opposition are attacking our left.

Hopefully Wal can get in his ear to sort this out.

Never really noticed this but seems like a good/valid point. I really like Katoa as a player but our defensive performances have dropped with him as hooker. Likely to be some sort of connection.

I also think Tamou is crucial to our defence. As soon as he went off yesterday our middle started to crumble. When he came back on it tightened again.

 

[franklin2323]

This is a good point. Ideally i'd like to play Storm Week 1 of finals & then not face them until the GF.

In saying that, not sure Souths are a better alternative currently. I think we might match up better against the Storm then the Rabbitohs despite recent history.

That time of the year. Any team on their day can blow you apart